The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce has formed a group charged with keeping Fairchild Air Force Base off a list of U.S. military bases to be closed about three years from now.


About 25 businesspeople, civic leaders, and aids to Washington states congressional delegation participated in a meeting last week to strategize about how to convince the U.S. Department of Defense that Fairchild is worth keeping. The group, called Forward Fairchild, wants more than simply to keep Fairchild openit wants the base to be bolstered by adding the operations of other bases once those are shuttered. Its effort is expected to cost $75,000 to $100,000, Hadley says.


Attendees at last weeks meeting stressed the crucial economic role that Fairchild, the Spokane-Coeur dAlene areas largest employer, plays here.


If theres an anchor tenant for this region, it is Fairchild Air Force Base, says Scott Morris, incoming chairman of the chamber and president of Avista Utilities. It is essential for this community that we not only focus on this, but that were successful.


Fairchild employs nearly 6,000 people in military and civilian jobs. Its annual economic impact here has been estimated to be close to $1 billion.


The Forward Fairchild effort will include paying part of the salary of a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist that the chamber expects to hire by the first of next year, Hadley says. The lobbyist will be promoting other issues for the chamber, as well, he says.


The group, co-chaired by longtime Spokane economic-development specialist Joe Tortorelli and Greg Bever, who is publisher of the Journal of Business, fleshed out four areas of initial focus last Friday. They are:


Planning and infrastructure. A committee will address the issues that could impact the militarys decision to close or bolster bases, such as water and waste-water capacity and the encroachment, or lack, of residential units and businesses around the base.


It will identify how well Spokane and the West Plains, where Fairchild is located, is equipped for increased demand on services and systems so the military doesnt see the infrastructure that supports Fairchild as a liability.


Communication. A committee will find ways to tell the Fairchild story. It will inventory Fairchilds assets, such as its important role in air refueling operations, which could become even more essential to the Air Force if overseas bases are closed and more Air Force missions originate on U.S. soil.


Under the direction of Randy Barcus, chief economist for Avista Corp., the committee will study the bases economic impact here and do other analyses of the regions economy. The committee also will inventory the community events here that honor the military, such as the Spokane Lilac Festival.


Growth. A third committee will identify which new missions or operations that Fairchild doesnt already handle would be appropriate to move here when other bases close. It also will examine how the new fleet of KC-767 air refueling tankers that Fairchild is expected to get could play a role in the bases bid to stay open, and how the proximity and access to Spokane International Airport could help the bases case.


Stakeholders. The fourth group will enlist participation from those who would be impacted most if Fairchild were to close or expand, including the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, which owns the Northern Quest Casino and other property in Airway Heights, and other West Plains business owners.


Economic consequences


About two years from now, the Department of Defense is expected to announce which bases it will close. This round of closures could be larger than the last four, which took place in 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995, combined, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said. Those rounds together shut down 97 major military bases, or about 20 percent of the total U.S. capacity.


Later this year, the Defense Department will release a list of the criteriaeverything from crime rates to housing affordabilitythat it will use to compare bases during the closure process. The bases will answer a long list of questions about their operations and their communities. The Forward Fairchild group says it must be ready to promote the areas where Fairchild fairs well on that criteria list and to find solutions to the regions shortcomings.


Fred Zitterkopf, who was assistant civil engineer at the base for 22 years, says the decisions wont be politically motivated.


Its truly based upon the criteria they lay out, he says.


Zitterkopf is part of the chambers standing armed services committee, which Tortorelli chairs.


The Defense Department also will use the survey information to decide where to realign the missions of bases that will be closed.


The Air Force wont tell us which missions might be compatible here, Tortorelli says. Unofficially, we can do some analysis of our own.


In terms of economic analysis, Barcus already has done some work. He projected the rates of job and population growth in Spokane and Kootenai counties for each year between now and 2015 based on two scenarios: whether Fairchild stays open but doesnt grow and whether Fairchild gains new missions.


If Fairchilds operations grow, there would be about 75,000 additional jobs here by 2015, to be added to the 250,000 total jobs today, Barcus estimates. If Fairchild were to continue with its current missions, about 60,000 jobs would be added to the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area, he says.


The population would grow by 146,000 people if Fairchild gained new missions or by 92,000 if it didnt change, he also predicts. The population of Spokane and Kootenai counties currently is about 420,000 and 115,000, respectively.


The job growth Barcus projects would come from a variety of sectors, including expected growth in the biotechnology manufacturing industry, added convention business, and the development of Spokane International Airport as an air-cargo hub. Still, Fairchild would play a significant role in the growth, Barcus says.


The darker analysis is what happens to the Spokane economy if Fairchild closes.


It would be the end of civilization as we know it in this community, Barcus said at the meeting.


While that drew some laughter from the group, Hadley commented, Hes not joking about that.


Most of the talk at the meeting focused on the potential growth at Fairchild, rather than the threat of its closure. While Forward Fairchild is taking seriously the risk of losing the base, several factors demonstrate that Fairchild has a good shot at staying open and growing, participants say. Among them are a large-capacity sewer line that was built south of Spokane recently and the relatively sizable amount of vacant land that surrounds the base.


Weve positioned Fairchildwith all the additional investments weve made and maintaining a buffer zone around itwhere we have an opportunity not only to maintain Fairchild, but pick up some of those missions that will need homes, Tortorelli says.


Forward Fairchild plans to meet again in two to three months, when it will write an action plan, Hadley says.